Elsa came over for brunch this morning and we made crepes. We had crepes with nutella, yoghurt, orange syrup a la Kim, fresh pineapple, bananas, plums, apples (they don't really do good apples here) and oranges and honey and sugar. Obviously not all at once, but they were all there to sample! Indira went to the doctor in the morning and was told she wasn't allowed to eat until the evening, IF she was feeling better. So she sat watching us tuck into pancakes which must have been pretty painful. They were very very good.
Kim thought it'd be a good idea to make some for Kumari and family (I keep forgetting the dad's name). So she made them as I rolled a selection of different things into them. Elsa thought we should let them make their own, but when Rahul (the eldest) came in he looked totally baffled by the whole affair, thought they were dosa's, so I thought it'd be simpler and just as good to prepare some with different fillings. They seemed pretty happy with them anyway!
Then we went to Ravi Vari Market. Ravi Vari means sunday. It's a big flea market on the river bank under the bridge. It's quite mad. It took us ages to get there as Elsa only knew the way from her house (which isn't anywhere near ours) so we ended up doing a huge zig zag, her shouting at the rickshaw driver the whole time thinking he was going the wrong way, when I think he was actually going the faster way from our house she just didn't know it! She wanted him to go from her house which is across the river from us and, incidentally, the market, so the poor guy must have been wondering what the hell route we wanted to go! We actually ended up getting a rickshaw to her house, then another one to the market. But, we finally got there anyway. Four in a rickshaw as well which they don't often allow. We had our first taste of "police justice" too when the rickshaw driver parked up in what must have been the wrong place. Suddenly a police man appears, shouting, and starts violently grabbing and pulling and pushing the driver. As the driver starts to move away he whacks the back of the rickshaw. We were all inside absolutely terrified, with no idea what was going on. Didn't know if it was because there were four of us in there or what...but I think it was because he was in the wrong place. Pretty scary though.
Before you go under the bridge there's another street which has people selling jewellery just on blankets on the ground. Not accessories, but religous beads, so you have loads of religious men in their lunghis, shirts and turbans, with different white and red markings on their foreheads and with big windy canes. They looked pretty amazing. Once they see you interested in something you start getting shouted at, prodded and poked and have various items shoved in your direction. One guy was trying to get me to come over to, I think, read my palm or be blessed or something, but as I don't speak Gujarati I thought the whole thing would be pretty futile. I simply smiled and shook my head. He seemed pretty disappointed. To get to THE market you go under the bridge. Down the path there are stalls on your left just selling various tat and sitting under the shade bridge on your right are women selling clothes from jeans to saris. It's very narrow and very packed. Lots of people and occasionally a goat, a moped or a rickshaw trying to squeeze through. Watch your bags! The path down is on a slight slope so before you start to walk down it properly you see just a mass of heads in the market, some under blankets for shade and the river behind them. It smells of sewage when you get there and the ground is just dust and rubble. There's no shade as you move out into everyone's rudimentary stalls and the sun is sweltering.
You can get all sorts of things there, I even saw an old fashioned box camera! I bought an old sari for 50 rupees (about 60p) which I'm going to turn into a dress, I hope, if the tailor has time before I leave. There'll be some fabric left over, so I'll see how much and find something to do with it in the future. I need to learn to make my own clothes! Something I've always wanted to do, but I've never got round to it. Fabric's far too expensive at home, but I guess that's just another excuse to come here again! And I have two saris from my last trip which I never wear as well...
It was a great market anyway. A real rummage and lots of bartering. Elsa was really good for that, of course; she's been here longer and slipped into the whole haggling system. Very unBritish, but I suppose she's French so is already pretty unBritish. I was great at it last time, but it's been a while. Indira got seriously duped when buying Tiffin tins (Indian stacked lunch boxes), but they were really nice and at the end of the day it's still cheaper then you'd ever pay for here. The other day I paid too much for ankle bracelets, but I think only by 40 or 50 rupees so that's not too bad. I want to get more too, so at least now I know how much I think I should pay for them.
We finished off the day with a freshly squeezed juice (I had watermelon) at a juice bar on CG Road that doesn't use water in the mix. Yum yum.
A perfect Sunday...
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